


Why Do You Call it a Uniform?

by VirtualNight



Category: Homestuck
Genre: Fantrolls, Original Character(s)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-04-09
Updated: 2013-04-09
Packaged: 2017-12-08 00:56:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 881
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/755102
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/VirtualNight/pseuds/VirtualNight
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The city was full of lots of interesting people, and Dengei was always eager to make new friends. The troll he runs into on this night however, does not seem eager to socialize. At least, not at first.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Why Do You Call it a Uniform?

**Author's Note:**

> I will likely edit this later since I wrote this a while back. But for now I post it as is.

Cities like this were always full of trouble. Not all of it was worth the time it took to stop it, but he knew being the judge of something like that wasn’t really his place. Achlys just did the best he could with the situations he happened to find during patrols.

Tonight was rather quiet, so he decided to check a few places then head back to his hive. He jumped down from his perch on a lamppost and as he stood he became aware of a nearby presence. A quick glance over his shoulder revealed a yellow-blood a bit shorter than him standing not too far away. Curious eyes gazed back at him, but he did not speak. There was not much point in small talk with strangers; not that there was anyone Achlys could consider to be something other than a stranger.

“Oh wow, what a cool costume!” The comment struck a nerve and Achlys made a swift one-eighty to face the source of the offense.

“This is not a costume. It is a uniform.” His tone was even despite the tension in his posture. 

“So like, you’re part of a group or something? That’s pretty neat. Are you a high rank? You look pretty strong, but I’m not really sure maybe you aren’t.”

“I work alone.” Confusion overtook the other’s features. 

“That’s weird...Why do you need a uniform if you aren’t part of a group? I’m not an expert, but that doesn’t seem to make much sense.” The lime-blood seemed flustered, stumbling over a few syllables before responding. 

“I don’t have time for this. I have my patrols to keep up with.” 

“Patrols? That sounds like fun! Can I come along?” Achlys narrowed his eyes as he approached the strange troll, moving in close to meet his gaze. After a few moments of staring and silence, he turned away. The yellow-blood did not seem fazed by this scrutiny, just waiting for the other’s answer.

“I can’t stop you if you decide to follow.” With that he turned away and strode off down the street, keeping to the shadows. 

“My name is Dengei by the way. What’s yours?” The lime-blood hesitated, mumbling his response at first. “Ah- what? I didn’t catch the rest.” 

“Achlys.” He flinched at the volume of his own voice, which was far louder than he had intended it to be. He avoided speaking for a while after that, allowing the other to chatter away at his own pace as they traveled. The streets were clear tonight for the most part, so Achlys decided to call off the rest of his routes and head in the direction of his hive. 

“I’m done for tonight. You can stop following me.” Dengei continued to trail behind the other a bit. “Where are you going now?”

“Back to my hive. It’s not really interesting. You don’t have to waste your time on me anymore.” The talkative troll seemed surprised, stopping for a moment, then following again.  
“I wasn’t wasting my time, Achlys. I had fun even though we didn’t see much.” The lime-blood gave up on words once more, but let out a bit of air he had been holding in his lungs.

After they exited the city and were just about to reach his hive, Achlys stopped and turned to his new acquaintance.

“My lusus can be annoying. I apologize in advance.” Whatever response Dengei gave, he did not hear it; his thoughts were focused on how he was going to handle having a guest. No one ever came to his hive anymore. 

The excited chirping of the small bird lusus snapped him out of his daze. A pale blur flitted past him to Dengei. Cheerful notes and gentle pokes of his beak on the new troll’s face followed. 

“Oh wow. He sure is nice!” With a dramatic eye roll that went unseen, Achlys went inside. After waiting a while for the greetings between the only two beings that communicated with him to stop, he got impatient and closed the door a bit forcefully. 

Time moved too quickly while he busied his mind with other things, and by the time he had remembered Dengei was outside, the other had already left. He stood in his doorway a while and stared into the empty distance. Caladrius alighted on his shoulder, snuggling up close in an attempt at comfort. He sighed heavily, closing the door once more and going back to work.

\----

Dengei made his way back to his hive, still a bit confused by his new friend’s behavior. Maybe Achlys just wasn’t in the mood for company. A melodic series of tweets caught his attention, the familiar round robin swooping down in front of him and hovered there for a moment. A small piece of paper was tied to his leg, and he held if out for the yellow-blood to take it.

“What’s this?” The only thing written on it was a troll tag, in surprisingly neat handwriting. With a bright smile Dengei pocketed the note. For some reason he was excited at the thought that Achlys wanted to speak to him again. It was getting late though and he did not want to bother the lime-blood; he would have to put off messaging him until tomorrow night.


End file.
